Urgent dental care and self medication in the economic active population of a delimited urban area of São Paulo

O presente estudo propôs-se a pesquisar aspectos relacionados à automedicação que precede o atendimento público de urgência odontológica, na população em idade economicamente ativa de uma micro-área urbana da Cidade de São Paulo - SP. Foram analisados dados primários obtidos através de entrevista assistida junto aos usuários do Serviço de Urgências Odontológicas da Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade de São Paulo entre setembro de 2007 e março de 2008. O protocolo de pesquisa deste estudo foi submetido ao Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade de São Paulo e foi aprovado pelo parecer 75/2007. Buscou-se investigar as medidas de associação existentes entre determinantes sociodemográficos, ocupacionais e comportamentais (enquanto variáveis independentes) e o uso de automedicação (variável dependente). Os dados foram tratados estatisticamente pelo programa SPSS 13, negando-se as hipóteses experimentais para valores de p maiores que 0,05 (NC 95%). Os resultados indicaram que 85,6% dos participantes haviam feito uso preliminar de medicamentos. Dentre os que os utilizaram, 73,6% praticaram automedicação. Observou-se maior prevalência não só na faixa etária compreendida entre 17 e 44 anos, como também entre os participantes com atividade remunerada. Foram observadas associações positivas quando houve: a) maior lapso de tempo entre a percepção do problema e a procura pelo cuidado profissional; b) maior grau de interferência da condição bucal nas ocupações diárias; c) jornada de trabalho igual ou superior a 40 horas semanais. Tais resultados indicam que é significativa a influência de determinantes ocupacionais na prática da automedicação que precede o atendimento de urgências odontológicas. Além disso, essa pesquisa reforça a importância de sensíveis melhorias nas políticas e práticas de educação, monitoramento e promoção de saúde bucal. Entendemos que tais medidas lograrão melhor êxito se implementadas em conjunto com políticas e práticas sustentáveis em saúde e segurança ocupacional, as quais não podem prescindir de adequada abordagem odontológica.This work aims at studying the issue of self medication that precedes the public dental urgent care, within the economically active population of a metropolitan microarea of São Paulo. The primary data were obtained through assisted interview with users of the Urgent Care Section of the University of São Paulo Faculty of Dentistry, between September 2007 and March 2008. The study, approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of São Paulo Faculty of Dentistry report 75/2007, focused on the connection between demographic, occupational and behavioural factors (as independent variables) and self medication (dependent variable). The data were processed with the SPSS 13 software, assuming the null hypothesis for p values higher than 0.05 (CI 95%). The results indicated that 85.6% of the participants had previously used medicines 73.6% of them by self medication (65.6% of the whole sample). A larger prevalence of self medication was observed within the group between 17 and 44 years of age, and those with some kind of paid activity. Positive associations were observed when it happened: a) a larger time period between the perception of the problem and the search for professional care; b) a larger degree of interference of the oral condition onto the occupational practice; c) weekly labour journey equal or higher than 40 hours. Such results indicate that occupational factors do significantly influence on self-medication preceding urgent dental care. Moreover, this research emphasises the importance of improvements in educational practices, monitoring and oral health promotion. It is believed that such measures will be more effective if introduced together with sustainable policies in health and occupational safety, which cannot preclude the dentistry approach

Relations between oral health and work ability among administrative workers

analyze the relationships between perceived oral health quality of life and work ability index. Methods: The data regarding administrative workers of a private textile company in São Paulo - Brazil, included socio-demographic, occupational characteristics, self-perceived oral health (OHIP 14) and self-perceived work ability index (WAI). Results: The response rate of the questionnaires was 75.20% and the reliability of the instruments (Conbrachs alpha) was 0.89 for OHIP 14 and 0.64 for WAI. Linear multiple regression analyses showed that OHIP 14 was associated with educational level (p=0.009) and work ability index (p=0.001) of workers, regardless of other variables. Conclusions: These results showed the importance of adopting oral health programs in private companies to improve oral health and work ability

Prevalence and risk factors of non-carious cervical lesions related to occupational exposure to acid mists

This study evaluates the prevalence and risk factors of non-carious cervical lesions (NCCLs) in a Brazilian population of workers exposed and non-exposed to acid mists and chemical products. One hundred workers (46 exposed and 54 non-exposed) were evaluated in a Centro de Referência em Saúde do Trabalhador &#8211; CEREST (Worker&#8217;s Health Reference Center). The workers responded to questionnaires regarding their personal information and about alcohol consumption and tobacco use. A clinical examination was conducted to evaluate the presence of NCCLs, according to WHO parameters. Statistical analyses were performed by unconditional logistic regression and multiple linear regression, with the critical level of p < 0.05. NCCLs were significantly associated with age groups (18-34, 35-44, 45-68 years). The unconditional logistic regression showed that the presence of NCCLs was better explained by age group (OR = 4.04; CI 95% 1.77-9.22) and occupational exposure to acid mists and chemical products (OR = 3.84; CI 95% 1.10-13.49), whereas the linear multiple regression revealed that NCCLs were better explained by years of smoking (p = 0.01) and age group (p = 0.04). The prevalence of NCCLs in the study population was particularly high (76.84%), and the risk factors for NCCLs were age, exposure to acid mists and smoking habit. Controlling risk factors through preventive and educative measures, allied to the use of personal protective equipment to prevent the occupational exposure to acid mists, may contribute to minimizing the prevalence of NCCLs

Differentiation between palatal rugae patterns of twins by means of the Briñón method and an improved technique

Abstract Palatal rugae patterns are anatomic structures considered unique to each person. Monozygotic twins present similarities, however, Rugoscopy in particular, may contribute to their individualization for forensic purposes. The aims of this study were: to study the palatal rugae classifications of Briñón; to propose improvements to facilitate use of this method, if pertinent; and to characterize palatal rugae in a sample of Brazilian monozygotic twins and singletons. Precise reproducibility of the two methods of Briñón, from 1982 and 2011, was prevented by poor intra-examiner agreement (70% and 13% respectively). Our proposed improvements to these methods, although preliminary, were associated with better results. The most common palatal rugae patterns were types A, M, and Q. Palatal rugae were confirmed to be unique to each individual, even in monozygotic twins. Furthermore, twins did not exhibit any special patterns that might facilitate their differentiation from singletons

Development of a computer-aided design software for the quantitative evaluation of aesthetic damage.

Concerns associated with the assessment of aesthetic damage or injury raise critical difficulties, such as the scarcity of methodology and standardization that may result in fundamental precepts to establish impartial forms of compensation and aiming the total reparation of bodily injury. The complexity of the aesthetic damage evaluation is associated with the confluence of legal and technical perspectives and expert subjectivity while conducting examination and writing a report. Experts face additional difficulties associated with the objectivity while assessing aesthetic damage, independently on its location or expert skills, due to complex details observed in these lesions. Another situation in the clinical area, doctors (mainly plastic surgeons) and dentists could show the improvement or not, of the aesthetic condition to the patients. In health related areas, the use of information technology has contributed to increase the number of appropriate diagnoses, besides promoting quality, efficiency and satisfaction to health care providers. In order to make this assessment more objective, a technological tool was developed to aid experts in the evaluation of aesthetic damage and report elaboration. The objective was to develop computer-aided design software for aesthetic damage quantification/evaluation that is accessible via internet to be applied as a complementary report on body aesthetic damage. The software uses as a parameter the AIPE method, translated transculturally from Spanish to Portuguese and English. The present study allowed the construction of open access auxiliary software for the evaluation of corporal aesthetic damage. Its use is facilitated by intuitive and interactive filling, and the text may be customized by the user. It transforms the report into PDF and saves all evaluations already done in its own file. Information is encrypted for added security and confidentiality. The software is available on website at https://www.aestheticdamage.com